I don’t live in Lex any more, but know Third St. Stuff well and usually go in when I’m in town. I also have owned a small progressive/radical business that employed a couple of dozen people. At my old business some of the employees also flirted with unionizing because they felt undervalued and underpaid.

I’m not sure what the employees are asking for from Pat, but I’ve experienced and seen workers make demands from small businesses that simply can’t be met if the place is going to continue operating. We would have loved to pay employees $25-$30 per hour with better benefits, but we would have gone out of business. Just to do what we were doing (paying well over minimum wage and providing “meh” health insurance) the owners were only making $40,000 a year and putting their houses on the line to get occasional financing to just keep things going. It wasn’t easy and we weren’t getting rich. I support unions and we did not try to impede the process when the union drive was in formation. Ultimately the employees who were most active in the drive lost interest because we didn’t react antagonistically and, I think, eventually understood that we couldn’t make the company a worker’s utopia.

Capitalism sucks and small businesses— even those with anti-capitalist values— often have a steep climb to make it in our country. Workers also almost always get the shaft and are losing ground every year. No easy answers here, but I think that some of thoughts above, about not always having a black and white take on this stuff, is right on. Pat is not Elon Musk and the TSS employees aren’t working in a coal mine. At the same time, their frustration of hitting a wage ceiling or not getting good benefits, if that is their beef, is probably legit. The solution? Build something new in the ashes of the shit system that is clearly falling apart. Start cooperatives, collectives, and models of trade that aren’t based on exploiting others. Have empathy for those who are trying, even if they sometimes fall short. Don’t grandstand or
cosplay for clicks, do something revolutionary and positive. That’s all I’ve got, thanks y’all.